Nearly every fifth Finn is aged 65 or over

Correction. The published
figures corrected on the 26th of September, 2014. The corrected
figures are indicated in red.

According to Statistics Finland's statistics on population
structure, there were 1,056,547 persons
aged 65 or over in Finland's population at the
end of 2013. Their proportion of the total population was
19.4 per cent. The number of persons
aged 65 or over has doubled since the mid-1970s and
quadrupled since the war years.

Number of persons aged 65 or over in Finland's
population in 1900 to 2013

In relative terms, Finland has the eight most persons
aged 65 or over among EU 28 countries

According to Eurostat's 2012 statistics, Italy has
relatively the largest proportion of persons aged 65 or over
of its population, 21.2 per cent. The second largest
proportion of the population was in Germany,
20.7 per cent and the third largest in Greece,
20.1 per cent. At the end of 2012, Finland's
share among EU 28 countries was the eight highest, i.e.
18.8 per cent. The share of persons aged 65 or over
of the population was lowest in Ireland,
12.2 per cent.

Share of persons aged 65 or over of the population
in EU 28 countries in 2012, per cent

One in four is 65 or over in the population of Etelä-Savo

Viewed by region, the share of persons aged 65 or over of
the population was largest in the region of Etelä-Savo,
26.0 per cent. In Kymenlaakso, South Karelia and Kainuu,
the share of persons aged 65 or over was
23.6 per cent. Correspondingly, in the regions of
Uusimaa (15.7 per cent) and
North Ostrobothnia (16.2) the share of persons
aged 65 or over was lowest.

Viewed by municipality, the share of persons aged 65 or
over was highest in Luhanka (40.1 per cent),
Kuhmoinen (39.0) and Sottunga (35.0). Correspondingly,
the share was lowest in the municipalities of Liminka (8.4 per
cent), Tyrnävä (11.1) and Pornainen (12.1).

Population’s average age highest in Sottunga, lowest in
Liminka

The average age of the entire population stood at 41,9 years at the end of 2013. The
average age of men was 40,5
years and that of women 43,3 years. Of the regions, the
average age was highest in Etelä-Savo, 46,7 years and lowest in
North Ostrobothnia, 38,8
years. Of the municipalities, the average age was
highest in Sottunga, 56,3 years,
and lowest in Liminka, 30,6
years.

Every fifth woman aged 45 and every fourth man aged 45 have no
children

The share of childless women and men has continued growing. In
all, 19.1 per cent of women aged 45 and
27.9 per cent of men of the same age were childless at
the end of 2013. In 1990, the respective shares were
13.4 per cent for women and 18.7 per cent for
men.

Share of childless persons by age and sex in 1990,
2000 and 2013

The effect of postponing having children is also visible in
younger age groups. In 1990, the share of childless women
aged 35 was 19.2 per cent of the age group, while at
the end of 2013 the share was 27.7 per cent.
Among men aged 35, the share of childless men has increased
from 31.4 per cent at the end of 1990 to
41.1 per cent.

Number of childless women highest in Uusimaa, lowest in
Ostrobothnia

In Ostrobothnia, the share of those without children among
45-year-old women was 13.3 per cent at the
end of 2013. In the region of Uusimaa, almost
one-in-four women aged 45 (23.3 per cent) were
childless and of 45-year-old women living in Helsinki
31.5 per cent did not have any children. The regional
differences for men are almost as large. Of 45-year-old men living
in Central Ostrobothnia, 22.8 per cent were
childless. Among 45-year-old men living in Etelä-Savo
30.7 per cent and among men of the same age living in
Helsinki 38.6 per cent did not have any children.

Among women aged 45 who speak Swedish as their native
language the share of childless women was 16.4 per cent
and among those who speak Finnish as their native language the
corresponding share was 18.6 per cent. Also, among men
aged 45 with Swedish as their native language the share of
childless men (23.9 per cent) was lower than among those
having Finnish as their native language
(27.4 per cent).

Share of childless persons highest among unmarried persons and
persons with low level of education

For one-quarter of all 45-year-old women the marital status was
unmarried, while 56 per cent were married,
17 per cent divorced and one per cent were widowed. Among
childless women aged 45 two in three were unmarried,
around one-quarter were married, nine per cent were
divorced and fewer than one per cent were
widowed.

Among women aged 45 with a national language (Finnish, Swedish,
Sami) as their native language and with at most basic level
education, 22.3 per cent were childless. Correspondingly,
the share of childless women among those with both upper secondary
level qualifications and tertiary level qualifications was
18.1 per cent. For men aged 45 with a national
language as their native language the share of childless men among
those with at most basic level education was
33.7 per cent, 29.0 per cent among those with
upper secondary level qualifications, and 22.0 per cent
among those with tertiary level qualifications (data on education
are based on the situation at the end of 2012).

Five-sixths of the Finnish population live in an area covering
2.2 per cent of Finland’s total land area

The majority of the Finnish population is concentrated around
urban settlements. According to the locality boundaries produced in
cooperation between Statistics Finland and the Finnish Environment
Institute, nearly 85 per cent of Finns, or 4,574,758
persons, lived in urban settlements at the end of 2013. An urban
settlement is not dependent on municipal borders, as it can stretch
over the area of several municipalities. There were 750 urban
settlements with a total land area of 6,637.5 km2 at the end of
2013. Approximately five out of six Finns lived in an area that
covers only 2.2 per cent of the total land area of Finland.

The majority of the urban settlements are small. More than
one-half of the urban settlements have 200 to 999 inhabitants.
According to the 2013 locality boundaries, only 4.4 per cent of the
urban settlements were large with at least 20,000 inhabitants.
Measured by population, the largest urban settlement is the
Helsinki central locality with nearly 1.2 million inhabitants. The
Helsinki central locality is also the largest urban settlement
measured by area, as it stretches over the area of as many as 11
municipalities . Its land area is 641.9 km2. According to
the situation at the end of 2013, there were six urban settlements
with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Finland: the Helsinki,
Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä and Lahti central localities.